VAC Signature Preamplifier mkII

Twin cities here.

Ahh, bummer...Texas here, would have been a fun comparison to do!

"Janus will NEVER have the magic of an Io or Callisto"

Not true just ask Jim White how close the Signature is to the IO and Callisto. This is why the Eclipse came out. You should not commit on something unless you have heard first hand and on gear your use too, like your own. I never commit on models I have never heard, that's how rumors and assumption start. You see this all the time on these threads.

Email me and I will give you pictures of all the preamps I have owned and compared.

Now the Eclipse Is much better then both and the best I have ever heard just edging the Dartzeel. Both are fantastic and regret selling my Dartzeel preamp.

You don't need a massive power supply in preamps for them to sound good. Your Aria doesn't have the power supply that the VAC has or even the Aesthetix has but that would stop it from being a great sounding product. Dartzeel runs on batteries and it one of the very best if not the best.

I used the VAC Ren sig MKII with my 300.1 and loved it with the right speakers but the preamp had too much gain for some other amps. The 300.1 is stellar and the best product VAC as ever made, they fixed all the bass issues. I used Tung Sol 6sn7 round plates and it really extended the top and bottom. The output tubes didn't make much difference.

Which positions did you use the roundplates in on the Phi 300.1 Mtdking?

The Eclipse models came out because the Io and Callisto signature products were rapidly falling behind the new models by the competition and not because $500 in new parts in the Saturn products put them just behind the Jupiter products. I have seen the parts changes in the updated Saturn products. I know these parts well as I rebuilt an Io and Counterpoint SA-2 with these. There is indeed increased resolution and dynamic contrasts with these parts but they do not bring much to the table in terms of the portrayal of space ..... the true strengths of the Io and Callisto designs. This is not rumor....it is just how it is whether or not the designer says one product line approaches another. I have read such comments by manufacturers and reviewers and I shake my head more times than not. I have heard the Saturn vs. Jupiter products side by side enough to know their inherent differences.

And my comment on the Io and Callisto PS was not about massive design. It was simply that these products like the Aria use tubes in their PS rather than ss devices. And I know how significant this is with regard again to the portrayal of space. I have done a lot of tube rolling in the Io and Callisto and Aria and the rebuilt SA-2 power supplies to know the benefits of tubes in a PS.

As for the Aria, it is its simplicity in the line stage, phono stage and PS that brings on far more clarity and resolution than I had with the Io and Callisto signature, both with premium tube sets. I was happy to see these products finally get some refinements. But parts changes only contribute to part of what takes a product to the next level of performance.